The fastest interval (time between photos) that you can use for taking a time-lapse is governed by your camera model, your camera's settings, and your memory card. When you camera is told to take a photo, it performs the following actions and it is important to reduce the time needed for each of these actions if you want to take photos with a fast interval : 

  1. Registering the pulse sent from Radian to start trying to take a photo.
  2. Adjusting settings (ISO, Aperture, Shutter Speed, etc) and/or focus to register the scene [this step only happens when in non-manual settings]. Putting your camera into 'Manual' mode will decrease the time it takes your camera to prepare to take the image.
  3. Open and close the shutter to let light hit your camera's sensor.
    1. There is some time necessary for actuating the mechanical shutter, but mostly the amount of time this takes is controlled by the shutter speed that you set.  Increasing the shutter speed will leave little time to save/process the image between shots.
  4. Read the information from your camera's sensor and save to it your memory card.
    1. This will take more or less time depending on your image resolution, the quality of your SD card, and the quality of your camera

If you are having trouble with your camera missing photos and are trying to reduce your interval, we recommend some or all of the following steps: 

  • Keep your shutter speed under 1/3 of your interval to ensure that Radian does not move during the shot (see this article for more).
  • You may need to reduce your camera's save quality to give your camera time to save each image.
  • You will need to shoot in fully manual settings.
  • Turning the display and preview off helps.
  • You may need to use a high quality SD card as some cards are faster at saving than others.


If you have any other tips that might allow cameras to handle smaller intervals, please feel free to let us know!